reagents
Reagents is a generic term for "things that can be turned into magical items or alchemical mixtures."
Properties
Geology & Geography
Reagents can be found almost anywhere but they are most concentrated near fonts of magical energy which is why most governments or creatures that happen to claim a magical font as their own will police their land carefully for reagent poachers.
Outside of magical fonts, reagents tend to be more common in wild unsettled areas than civilized well-settled areas. The major exception is reagent gardens which are almost exclusively a product of the civilized world but it takes a lot of labor and specialized knowledge to cultivate a reagent garden.
History & Usage
Everyday use
"Common reagents" refer to reagents usable for potions, scrolls, alchemical items, and other expendable magical items and "durable reagents" refers to reagents that can be used for permanent or at least long lasting magical items like wands, magic swords, and the like.
In many cases, reagents are a currency in and of themselves and many will accept reagents as payment in lieu of coin.
Cultural Significance and Usage
To use a modern analogy, in reagents on Scarterra are like petroleum on Earth. In that they are a valuable resources that is hugely sought after in trading deals and are often a coveted prize that precipitates armed conflict.
Spell casters, be they mages or theurgists are powerful and influential but they cannot be everywhere at once and they have finite daily limits to their powers, and the creation of magical items, especially potions and scrolls allows even a common soldier to essentially keep a support spell in his pocket for a tense situation.
Alchemists can also use reagents in their mixtures, be they offensive or violent mixtures such as poisons, flash bangs, smoke bombs, alchemist's fire or more peaceful mixtures such as alchemical food preservatives, glues, dyes, and medicines.
Alchemists can even create reagents out of more common materials but this process is so expensive and time consuming that this is normally only done as a last resort.
by Eron 12 with Hero Forge
by Neshik's Player with Hero Forge
Adventurers and high level professional soldiers alike frequently seek to keep potions and magic scrolls on hand so they can emjoy a critical and often lifesaving edge in combat. Even if the warriors are spell casters themselves, no single spell caster can do everything so those that can afford to do so will keep potions or scrolls on hand for magical abilities that they cannot do themselves.
Refinement
Reagents, especially plant and fungus based reagents need to be harvested and processed very carefully in order to avoid being partially or completely wasted.
Some rare plants can only be made into usuable reagents if they are harvested on specific times such as one plant that needs to be harvested under the light of a full moon or another that must be harvested under the darkness of a new moon. Some reagents are more potent if they are harvested on specific calendar days, such as the so called "Tween Days".
If a reagent is harvested from a rare animal, the beast often needs to be hunted and slain by specific ritualistic means in order to maximize the potency of the reagents harvested.
If a magical beast is hostile and dangerous, most adventurers and soldiers don't care about these ritualistic means. They will remove the threat and harvest whatever they can, but hunters who are specifically out to obtain reagents will usually follow the ritual protocol (if they are aware of them).
Environmental Impact
Most fae, magical beasts, and to a lesser extant spirits have some capacity to have reagents extracted from them.
A lot of magical beasts have been driven to the point of extinction by relentless reagent hunters and some nature loving groups such as the Stewards of the Dominion will often try to defend endangered magical creatures or enact acts of vigilante justice against unscrupulous reagent dealers.
Spirits are difficult to harvest reagents from because they are virtually indestructible and normally return to the Aetherial Realm to reform when "slain". Usually reagents obtained from spirits are done so peacefully. A unicorn might shed hairs near a worthy mortal who provided some service for nature.
Fair Folk can be slain and reagents harvested from the remnants left behind and they are naturally very disgusted and enraged by mortals killing Fair Folk for something lowly as reagents though more than a few are hypocrites who will not hesitate to harvest reagents from rival Fair Folk they have slain. Most Fair Folk have little issue harvesting reagents from lowly sprites, but they don't like to share this resource with mortals.
Reusability & Recycling
Common reagents are pretty fragile and are almost impossible to recover once expended but durable reagents are...durable.
Even a broken magical sword can usually be carefully melted down to recover most of the regeants and repurposed for another magical item later. It is more difficult to scavenge resuable reagents from a destroyed magic cloak however.
Distribution
Trade & Market
by Me with Hero Forge
Misty Market Place in the evening by Me with Nightcafe
Typically, reagents are traded in terms of "drams" but drams is a ambiguous that it takes a degree of education simply to understand. Most commoners recognize reagents as having value, but they rarely know if they are holding 10 drams worth of reagents or 100 drams of reagents. Thus, reagent dealers practice a very specialized trade, and they are not always trusted because they are rarely fully understood.
A single hair of a unicorn may be worth as many as fifty drams of reagents and weighs next to nothing. Alternatively a pound of honey from a beeshive near a patch of faerie flowers might be worth fifty drams. Either way, the market value of fifty drams of reagents is usually 50 silver coins.
Law & Regulation
Stealing reagents is treated as stealing any other valuable property or resource.
Harvesting reagents from a noble's land without his permission is usually considered a very serious crime, even more so than hunting game on an noble's land without his permission.
RPG rules for Using Reagents
Rules for Acquiring, Cultivating, or Creating Reagents alchemical reagent transformation Single or Finite Use Magical Items Player Characters creating finite magical items Creating permanent or near-permanent magical items
Type
Metaphysical
Value
One silverpiece per dram
Rarity
uncommon
Related Locations
Related Technologies
Nice and well thought out article! Especially like the addition of environmental impacts of the harvesting. Must be quite hard for people to remember the rituals for the various reagents. Did they discover these methods over a long period of time or is it something passed down through religion rituals or something?